episode 2

During World War II, Great Britain used radio to mobilize support for the war effort. The British Ministry of Information promoted national propaganda, which was seen as a form of cultural diplomacy. The BBC, under the control of the government, broadcasted news that was viewed as objective and truthful. Edward R. Murrow, an American war correspondent, brought the war in Britain to American homes and provided a sense of stability and hope. The Mass Observation Group collected diaries and questionnaires to gauge the domestic response to the war. The BBC used radio programming to boost morale and provide entertainment and education. As war broke out throughout Europe, Great Britain grappled with how they would mobilize domestic and international support for the war effort through radio. The British Ministry of Information, created at the end of the First World War but revitalized at the beginning of the Second World War, had a mission statement to, quote, promote the national case of the public at home and abroad in time of war, quote, through national propaganda. National propaganda is a phrase that, to us now, implies unsavory manufactured stories of atrocities created to dupe the public. Civil servants of the Foreign Office and journalists within the BBC at the time, however, attempted to redefine what propaganda was to entail. Horton writes that, quote, historians and other scholars have often shared this contemporary distaste, tying themselves in knots trying to define propaganda and to differentiate it from what they see as a more benign type of persuasive communication. Criticisms such as self-power, public diplomacy, and cultural diplomacy have proliferated. Yet many contemporaries did not blush when they used the word propaganda. Civil servants in the Foreign Office were certainly happy to talk about British propaganda, particularly cultural propaganda, using the term to describe something that scholars now tend to call cultural diplomacy and even to describe BBC news broadcasts as a form of propaganda, end quote. The Foreign Office and Ministry of Information often used the term white propaganda to describe the production of positive propaganda by the ministry and the BBC. The Ministry of Information had a direct hand in dictating what media was released by the BBC as it vetted all broadcasters and had the ability to veto BBC broadcasts deemed disagreeable. The BBC was not explicitly under the control of the government, although it is debatable simply how true this is. In our popular culture, one of the lasting impacts of the Ministry of Information was the design of the Keep Calm and Carry On motivational poster, which was printed but never displayed to the public during the war as the blitz prevented its dissemination. Unlike the most popular form of fascist propaganda in Germany, which often utilized scare tactics to act as fuel for maintaining power, acting to the broadcasting of the hate-filled and erratic speeches of Adolf Hitler, and anti-Semitic ideological values painting Jews as a threat to the German people in films such as The Eternal Jew, British propaganda over the airwaves often embodied the value of Keep Calm and Carry On. Much of the early BBC prioritized broadcasting news that was viewed as objective and truthful in nature. Internal correspondence within the country's Foreign Office strategized in June 1939 that quote, if the BBC continues to broadcast straight, factual news, maintaining an international reputation for truth, they will automatically hold their already established worldwide audience. The recognition of British broadcast news as a fearlessly truthful medium is the best conceivable of propaganda. Like journalist Max Shorten of NBC and H. V. Kelton born of CBS, journalists working domestically in Great Britain were lauded for their reliable and balanced reporting. BBC commentator Alvar Liddell became famous announcing his news reading with the introduction, here is the news and this is Alvar Liddell reading it. The recognition that Liddell's faith for his consistent and distinctive voice in reporting became something of a comfort to listeners. Here is the midnight news and this is Alvar Liddell reading it. Up to 10 o'clock, 175 German aircraft had been destroyed in today's raids over this country. Today was the most costly for the German Air Force for nearly a month. In daylight raids, between 350 and 400 enemy aircraft were launched in two attacks against London and South East England. About half of them were shot down. It was officially announced that by 10 o'clock tonight, 175 raiders were known to have been destroyed by our fighters and anti-aircraft guns. Out of the same vein of this keep calm and carry on mantra emerged possibly the most celebrated and recognizable broadcast journalist and war correspondent, American Edward R. Murrow. Employed by CBS, Murrow served a dual purpose as a window into a blitz-torn London for America who were able to see the atrocities perpetrated on their ally by Germany. In Modernism at the Microphone, Melinda Ninsman writes, Murrow brought the war in Britain into American homes, making living rooms across the U.S. terrifying sites of destruction where listeners could almost feel the dropping of bombs and the heat of the fires that raged through London. The radio, therefore, like all mass communications media, presented listeners with a carefully constructed reality of wartime events, but only the radio allowed listeners to imagine the devastation and chaos as if it was actually happening. For radio listeners, World War II was a story that unfolded in real time, and for Americans, it brought a narrative thousands of miles away much closer to home. For Brits, Murrow reinforced a sense of stability and hope for Londoners enduring the bombing raids with his signature, good night and good luck. Murrow became what the British public needed. He became their eyes and ears. In Writing the Radio War, Ian Whittington writes, quote, during the conflict, radio created as much as it reflected its public. Press and radio combined in keeping the people's collective image constantly in front of the people's eyes and did well in doing so. It was inspirational. One beheld themselves, one had and one to be, end quote. This next clip is from September 21st, 1940, as Murrow broadcasts from the Broadcasting House in London as the blitz unfolds around him. I'm standing on a rooftop looking out over London. At the moment, everything is quiet. For reasons of national as well as personal security, I'm unable to tell you the exact location from which I'm speaking. Off to my left, far away in the distance, I can see just that faint red angry snap of anti-aircraft bursts against the steel blue sky. But the guns are so far away that it's impossible to hear them from this location. About five minutes ago, the guns in the immediate vicinity were working. I can look across just to the building not far away and see something that looks like a splash of white paint down the side. And I know from daylight observation that about a quarter of that building has disappeared, hit by a bomb the other night. Streets fan out in all directions from here. And down on one street, I can see a single red light and just faintly the outline of a sign standing in the middle of the street. And again, I know what that sign says because I saw it this afternoon. It says, danger, unexploded bomb. Off to my left still, I can see just that red snap of the anti-aircraft fire. I was up here earlier this afternoon and looking out over these housetops, looking all the way to the Dome of St. Paul's. I saw many flags flying from staff. No one ordered these people to put out the flags. They simply feel like flying a Union Jack above their roots. No one told them to do it, and no flag up there was white. I can see one or two of them just stirring very faintly in the breeze now. What stands out to me in this clip is how Murrow makes a distinct point about Lindeners flying the Union Jack despite the circumstances. This detail aided to the national unity and perseverance that networks such as NBC hope to exemplify through their journalism and by extension, through work with allied forces at networks such as NBC and CBS. Despite a fear and alarm that permeated Linden and eased a bit as the blitz subsided in 1941 when Hitler focused his sights on the USSR, the British population still had to contend with the rationing and, quote, petty annoyances of the war, such as the blackout. Like how Murrow became the mouthpiece for a fragment of England, the investigators of the Mass Observation Group did the same as they took the temperature of the domestic response to the war through questionnaires and the collection of personal diaries. This next clip is a diary entry of a bank clerk from March 28th, 1940, aired on April 1st, 1941. Went to London for the day. My sister told me to take my gas mask, but I couldn't be bothered. When I got there, went first to book a seat for show in the afternoon. Afterwards, watched a barrage balloon near the embankment being moored down, having previously had lunch. Then made my way to the theatre and enjoyed C.B. Cochran's Lights Up. Allusions to various aspects of the war seemed to me original, amusing, and in good taste. Getting tea was a long job, and by the time I'd finished, it was nearly seven o'clock, and it had begun to rain. Wandered about a bit, looked in one or two amusement places. This was the first time I'd been in London since the outbreak of war, and its dreariness in the blackout struck me forcibly. Where there had been bright lights and plenty of life, there was now a uniform gloom and practically nothing to do besides go to the theatres or cinemas. Finally got fed up and took the 845 home. The journey was also dreary, the compartment being in semi-darkness. Why can't the trains be blacked out so that brighter lights can be used? Well, darkness would be better than the dim blue light that is used at present. Through the airing of dire entries such as these, the BBC projected the idea that the entire nation was struggling with these petty annoyances together, and that one could still find entertainment and bright moments in a seemingly gloomy atmosphere. In addition to the work of live journalists and contributions from the general population, BBC utilised daily wartime radio programming to boost the morale of the nation. Daily programming like Lift Up Your Hearts encouraged daily prayer, while variety shows like Health or Shelter worked as educational programming. Morale-boosting programs such as Homefront, which ran from September 1939 to May 1940, included episodes such as Women in War and The Spirit of Poland, demonstrating patriotism as a method of counter-propaganda. The home was not the only place radio broadcast permeated. This extended to the workplace, and more specifically, to the factories building and supplying arms and ammunition to the front lines. Programs like Workers' Playtime aimed to showcase live music and entertainment as a way to, quote, make us feel that we are working together in the common cause to win this war, as stated by Ernest Bevin, Minister of Labour. It is no doubt that these broadcasts motivated workers to continue their gruelling work on the production lines with a mentality of being in it together. Ladies and gentlemen, Workers' Playtime! ♪♪ Hello, war workers. Gather round for your own special show, broadcast as usual from a large wartime factory canteen before a crowd of Britain's men and women victory workers. Once again, we present an all-star cast of radio and music hall artists, and this is Workers' Playtime. We're calling all workers in this country and in all the Allied nations. Here's to you, and here is your show. The BBC broadcasted a variety of topical dramatic programs that displayed the atrocities of the German campaign on Europe and the deplorable ideology of the Nazi Party. One of these was The Shadow of the Swastika, charting the rise of the Nazis from the early through the annexation of Sudetenland, as well as the invasions of Czechoslovakia and Poland. Funded by the Ministry of Information and the BBC, the feature was broadcast on November 10th, 1939 to February 29th, 1940. The series spanned over nine episodes, with the final epilogue recapping the events of the war up until that moment. According to Alex Goody in BBC Features, Radio Voices and the Propaganda of War from 1939 From the outset, The Shadow of the Swastika was presented to radio audiences in the radio times as authentic and based on documentary evidence, even for the fictional conversations, which were the things people of that type really did say. Another problem revealed itself in the aftermath of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, when three million German troops invaded the Soviet Union. As Great Britain and the Soviet Union were bound by their Allied pact, the BBC was tasked with producing programming that would embrace the USSR, fight against the fascism of Nazi Germany, while availing public opinion towards the country. This, however, was not as simple as it would seem. The opinion of the British public on the Soviet Union had been largely split since the Russian Revolution, with many outwardly suspicious of the country. Ian Whittington writes, quote, In particular, questions lingered about Soviet plans after the war, their attitudes towards political dissent and religious worship, and their military record in Poland and Finland. Fortunately for the BBC, public opinion of the USSR had surged in the second half of 1941 as a result of Soviet resistance to the Nazi invasion, not least because this resistance drew fire from Britain at a time when the Blitz had stretched the endurance of many citizens to the limit. End quote. BBC aired programs such as The Three Sisters and Squaring the Circle to promote cultural diplomacy. The most notable of these, Alexander Nevsky, detailed the defeat of the Teutonic Knights by the Russian prince of the same name in 1242. Released in 1938, the program garnered attention during Operation Barbarossa as audiences drew parallels between the violent Teutonic Knights of old and the repressive Nazis in the modern day. The character of the Russian people were considered excellent and honorable, as in Nevsky's final speech, he proclaimed, quote, we in Russia are children of peace. We do not envy any man's goods or country, and we do not close our doors to any peaceful visitor. And I say this to the rest of the world. If you will come to us in peace, you are welcome. But if you come with a sword or the threat of the sword, then remember the old saying, those who take the sword by the sword shall they perish. Over 15% of the radio owning audiences turned into the program, a resounding success. One listener research report noted that, quote, several listeners said they thought the descriptions of the battle on the ice by the blind singer was the outstanding feature of the broadcast, praising it particularly for its realism and dramatic qualities, end quote. While the creation and development of Nevsky underwent careful fine tuning to empathize audiences to the USSR, what came next was a stroke of luck. Broadcasted on the night of December 8, 1941, the day after Pearl Harbor had been bombed by the Japanese Army and the United States had entered into the war, Nevsky introduced the world to the big three powers of the USSR, Great Britain, and the United States, as all three broadcasted their voices across the airwaves that night, with Roosevelt and Churchill speaking on the 9 o'clock news, rounded out by the airing of Nevsky, as introduced by Soviet Ambassador Ivan Mysky. One of the most notable broadcasters and wordsmiths, as David Welch describes him in World War II propaganda, analyzing the art of persuasion during wartime, was Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Assuming office at the resignation of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in May 1940, Churchill hoped to reverse the demure resignation of Chamberlain in his fiery speeches to the British public as a rallying cry for the war effort, speaking in lofty, determined words. Reflecting on this period, Churchill stated that, quote, the British people were the lions, I just provided the roar, end quote. This next speech, one of Churchill's most famous, was a speech delivered to Parliament, aired after France fell to Nazi Germany in June of 1940. We shall fight in France. We shall fight on the seas and oceans. We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields and in the streets. We shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender. When journalists and commentators delivered news from the front, it was often delivered in a way that would raise the national spirit despite any military setbacks or despite how disastrous it was for Great Britain. For example, between May 26 and June 4, 1940, Operation Dynamo took place as hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers were evacuated from Dunkirk, France, after being surrounded and barraged by German troops for weeks. A major military and morale setback, J.B. Priestley's broadcast on his BBC program, Priestley's Postscript, reimagined the disaster as an example of the national unity of the nation as, quote, little holiday steamers, end quote, operated by regular English citizens, rescued Allied soldiers, snatching glory out of defeat. This next clip is Priestley's broadcast the day after the evacuation ended on June 5, 1940. But here is Dunkirk is another English epic. And to my mind, what was most characteristically English about it? So typical of us, so absurd and yet so grand and gallant that you hardly know whether to laugh or to cry when you read about them, was the part played in the difficult and dangerous embarkation, not by the warships, magnificent though they were, but by the little pleasure steamers. We've known them and laughed at them, these fussy little steamers, all our lives. Sometimes they only went as far as the next seaside resort, but the boldest of them might manage a channel crossing to let everybody have a glimpse of Boulogne. They were usually paddle steamers, making a great deal more fuss with all their churning than they made speed. And they weren't proud, for they let you see their works going round. They liked to call themselves Queens and Bells. And even if they were new, there was always something old-fashioned, a Dickens touch, a mid-Victorian air about them. They seemed to belong to the same ridiculous holiday world as Pierrots and Piers, sandcastles, ham and egg teas, palmists, automatic machines and crowded, sweating promenades. But they were called out of that world, and let it be noted, they were called out in good time and good order. Yes, these Brighton Bells and Brighton Queens left that innocent, foolish world of theirs to sail into the inferno, to defy bombs, shells, magnetic mines, torpedoes, machine gun fire, to rescue our soldiers. Some of them, alas, will never return. Among those paddle steamers that will never return was one that I knew well, for it was the pride of our ferry service to the Isle of Wight, none other than the good ship Gracie Fields. But now, look, this little steamer, like all her brave and battered sisters, is immortal. She'll go sailing proudly down the years in the epic of Dunkirk. And our great-grandchildren, when they learn how we began this war by snatching glory out of defeat and then swept on to victory, may also learn how the little holiday steamers made an excursion to hell and came back glorious. Priestley describes the heroic rescue of the Allied soldiers by British citizens as, quote, terroristically English, so absurd and yet so grand and gallant. In the face of a staggering defeat, Priestley revitalizes the nation, specifically commending the people of the country as a heroic nation of grand and gallant Englishmen. Even the modern-day BBC recognizes this as a, quote, masterclass in the art of subtle persuasion. It was for this reason that Priestley was declared the voice of the people, while Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared himself as the voice of the nation. According to radio historian Shan Nichols, this was aided by the fact that Priestley spoke directly in his distinct Yorkshire accent, while Churchill declared his message to the nation in his regal metropolitan accent. During his postscript career, Priestley managed to capture an audience that made up a third of radio listeners in Great Britain. The public praised Priestley for his efforts, with one journalist writing that he was a, quote, leader second in importance only to Mr. Churchill, and he gave us what the other leaders have failed to give us, an ideology. Interestingly, Priestley did not adopt one of the traits that BBC broadcasters were encouraged to practice. According to Horton, the BBC emphasized addressing all of Great Britain, not dividing it into its English, Irish, Welsh, and Scottish populations. The BBC, quote, encouraged speakers to replace the term England with Britain whenever speaking of the entire national political entity, end quote. The British production of white propaganda through the work of the BBC, the Ministry of Information, and the efforts of individuals such as Edward Murrow, Alvaro Bedell, and J.B. Priestley was incredibly vast in scope, but successful in rallying domestic and international support for Great Britain and its allies in the United States and the Soviet Union. The very many fan letters and survey responses taken throughout the war by institutions like the Mass Observation Group and Listener Research, as well as the staggering number of listeners who tuned into these BBC programs, reinforced how successful these efforts were. In December 1941, the United States would enter the war. Following the lead of Great Britain in its dissemination of propaganda through radio and its fight against fascism, this time, however, Hollywood was directing the airwaves.